


Soap Bubbles -- A TLC fic

by Foxen



Series: Cheirophilia [7]
Category: The Mandalorian (TV), the mandalorian (LadyIrinia AU)
Genre: Developing Relationship, Fluff, It's just fluff guys, Laughter, M/M, Touching, baby butts on the run, bath time for baby, emphasis on soft, now with added art, self indulgent, soft, sog in crime
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-27
Updated: 2020-03-27
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:21:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,739
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23340886
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Foxen/pseuds/Foxen
Summary: It can’t be that hard, he thinks. Din must be giving him pretty regular baths, he supposes, and he’s never seen or heard anything that would suggest a disaster in the making. Nodding to himself, he sets about getting a bath ready.Or, the Child gets extra dirty and Corin decides to help out by giving him a bath. Things don't go quite as planned.
Relationships: Corin the Stormtrooper (Rescue and Regret)/The Mandalorian (The Mandalorian TV)
Series: Cheirophilia [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1575679
Comments: 11
Kudos: 152





	Soap Bubbles -- A TLC fic

**Author's Note:**

> Week...2? Of semi-quarantine. My state is getting ready to issue a shelter in place ordinance, though, I think. And we're still getting aftershocks big enough to wake me up from a dead sleep. I'm exhausted. My first online exam is tomorrow...differential equations. eep.
> 
> This is just a cute little something we thought up some weeks back and I'm glad working on it was timed like it was. It was nice and relaxing to work on compared to some of the more emotionally charged fics we've written in the past (and have lined up in the near future). We hope you enjoy this soft, drama-free fic <3
> 
> Hope you're all staying safe and healthy.
> 
> ~Fox
> 
> my state in flames: this is fine
> 
> numbers are racking up and my state has little ordinances in place...I've got no clue what's to come, to be honest. but uh...here's to hoping that I manage an income in the coming months! dfkasdfj
> 
> pls enjoy!!! WASH UR HANDS (and moisturize, washing too much will dry u out!!)

Getting back to the Razor Crest is more of a hassle than Corin wants to admit.

They had picked a planet with dense vegetation in hopes of finding some creatures to hunt. They got what they wanted, but there were a lot of caverns full of carnivorous creatures they did  _ not  _ account for. It rained, the native insects stung, they slid into mud more times than Corin could count. Din had been able to fight off the bigger creatures they encountered, and Corin easily dodged what came his way.

The kid had been snug in his birikad, so he hadn’t had to worry too much for his safety for the most part, but he’s certain as they get closer to the ship that he’s just as covered in dirt as him and Din are.

They get out of the jungle with just one creature, which is much less than what they’d planned for, but after watching Din get jabbed, turned upside down, tripped, and gut-punched by several creatures with horns, Corin is ready to count it as a win.

Once the ship is in sight, the Child wriggles inside of the birikad, trying to get free. Corin absently takes him out of the sling and sets him down before turning towards Din.

“Are you alright?”

“Huh? Yeah, I’m fine. Just bruised.” His voice is a bit strained, but he stubbornly keeps lugging the creature behind him.

Frustrated, Corin watches his movements carefully, looking for any tells that might indicate a wound more serious than he is letting on. He doesn’t see anything, however, and the dark fabrics Din is wearing, accompanied by his mud smeared armor, make it impossible to see any blood splotches or any other obvious wounds. He doubts Din will be taking his armor off any time soon, however, so he’ll have to be patient and wait to check him over properly.

Still, it doesn’t hurt to double-check. Corin touches at his arm, just barely, brows drawn in worry. “You were tossed around a lot, Din. Are you sure?”

“Corin,” Din says, a note of tired irritation in his voice, “I’m  _ fine.”  _ He turns and places his hand on Corin’s shoulder for emphasis, his head tilted in such a way that Corin knows he's aiming for eye contact through the visor. He wishes he’d just take the damn thing off already.

When Din placed his hand on Corin’s shoulder, it had brought them into close proximity with each other. Corin fidgets a little, still not used to being this close together, especially when Din initiates it. Part of him wants to step back, to flee, and the other part wants to lean in and--

Din lets his hand slip off Corin’s shoulder before brushing past him and into the ship to get to work on prepping the creature for storage. Corin watches him go, the unfamiliar urge lingering. He huffs out a sigh and rolls his eyes at Din’s stubbornness and his own ridiculousness.

Shaking his head, he moves to put their gear away when his eyes land on the Child.

He blinks and then grimaces. He hadn’t realized how dirty the kid had gotten outside. The poor Child is  _ caked  _ in mud and debris. Even his face has dried mud smears and he looks crabby and upset. Corin tuts as he picks him up, trying not to think about the cold mud getting on his clothes but knowing he’s pretty dirty himself, anyway.

The Child presses his face into his shirt and Corin sighs. He should probably give him a bath.

_ It can’t be that hard _ , he thinks. Din must be giving him pretty regular baths, he supposes, and he’s never seen or heard anything that would suggest a disaster in the making. Nodding to himself, he sets about getting a bath ready.

\--

It’s a disaster.

There is water everywhere, the kid is wet and slippery and hard to keep a hold of, and it  _ really  _ doesn’t help that Gigi jumps right into the fun when the kid launches the first ball of water at Corin’s face. He sputters, wondering where the kriff it came from, when he sees him raise his hand. His eyes start to widen just before he’s hit square in the face again.

Gigi splashes more water at him with her tentacles while he tries to push his hair off his forehead and wipe the water out of his eyes. Blinking rapidly, he notices that Gigi has helped the kid get out of the bucket and onto the wet floor. Corin manages to grab him with a firm hold before he can escape the room, but neglects to pay attention to his surroundings.

He doesn’t notice the bucket wobbling in the air until it’s too late.

Corin gasps for air in shock as the bucket is upturned on him. He loses his grip on the kid and can hear giggling from somewhere. He fights wet hair out of his eyes  _ again  _ \-- he really needs to get it cut or  _ something,  _ he thinks -- to find that the Child is no longer anywhere to be found in the wash area. Corin stands up carefully to avoid slipping, shaking his head as he takes in the mess that had been made. The kid is obviously hiding now, and Corin knows if he follows the trail of water puddles, he’ll find him easily enough.

A hand grazes over his lower back and he jumps and spins around at the touch, startled. He stares at Din, who immediately starts to apologize, hands raised up in a calming gesture. Corin blinks a few times as his heart slows down before scowling as he realizes that he’d done it again. The touch wasn’t even against his skin or anywhere near his neck this time and he still reacted poorly.

He tunes into Din’s voice in time to hear him say, “I heard the ruckus, so I came to see if everything was alright. I thought for sure you would have heard me come over…”

Corin quickly waves him off. “No, please. It wasn’t your fault, don’t apologize.” He rushes on before Din can squeeze in another apology. “I was trying to bathe the kid while you were cleaning the kill, but…” His eyes switch between the puddles that had formed on the ground, the upside-down bucket, and the state of his clothes. With a sigh, he says, “It didn’t go very well.”

Din’s quiet and Corin starts to worry he’s upset him; he  _ had  _ just been complicit in making a rather large mess. But before Corin can say anything, Din says, “And the kid?”

His voice is strained in a way Corin can’t quite interpret. He bites his cheek before huffing out, “He’s...hiding.”

He hears a sound like a wheezing bark and it takes him a moment to figure out that it’s coming from Din. His eyes widen as he realizes that Din is  _ laughing _ . Laughing at his expense,  _ sure,  _ but it’s a laugh he hasn’t heard before, nonetheless. His chest feels tight as a warmth expands through it, his heart thudding as the Mandalorian tries to hold himself together. His shoulders are shaking and bowed, his body almost bowed in half as he wraps an arm around his stomach.

With a final shake of his head and another outburst of chuckles, Din grabs the bucket to refill it with warm water. He sets the bucket down under the tap so it can fill up, bursting into another fit of throaty giggles. Corin frowns at him, trying not to actually  _ pout  _ as he uncomfortably tugs at the hem of his wet shirt; it isn’t  _ that  _ funny, he thinks.

Din catches sight of him and his chuckles slow before he waves him off, grabbing at the rim of his helmet. It unlatches with a hiss and Din draws it over his head. The man is flushed and slightly out of breath as he sets his helmet down.

Rubbing at his face with gloved hands he says, “Kriff, sorry. I was laughing so much I couldn’t breathe.”

“You’re  _ terrible,”  _ Corin says, trying to keep back a grin; Din’s eyes are still bright with mirth and his grin is infectious. Despite his damp clothes and hair and failed mission, he can’t help but to feel amusement stirring in his own chest.

Din snorts and avoids looking at Corin’s face, Waving a hand he says, “Please, I beg you, stop. You’ll make me laugh again.” Shaking his head, still smiling, Din moves to walk past him. Resting his hand gently on Corin’s elbow, he says, “Come on, let’s find the kid.”

Corin groans, exaggerating his mild irritation at Din’s continued amusement at his expense by letting his body slouch in defeat. Dragging his feet, he follows him into the main room in hunt of the kid. They break apart to search separately and it doesn’t take long for Din to find him first.

Corin hears him bark out a laugh for the second time and goes to investigate.

Din looks up at him with bright eyes as he approaches, his laugh lines and crow's feet pronounced. Still grinning, he points behind the couch, “He’s  _ naked  _ !”

“Well, yeah!”

Din ducks back down and grabs the Child, making him squeal and giggle as he lifts him up by his ankles. Corin chokes on a laugh of his own at the sight and he has to admit that the whole situation  _ is  _ actually pretty funny. Gigi nips at Din’s ankles as he carries the wiggly kid back into the tiny washroom and sits him in the bucket. The Child tries to stand up and Din gently nudges him back down.

As Din takes off his gloves and sets them aside so they don’t get too wet, Corin finds himself watching. Din’s gentleness and way with the Child never ceases to amaze him and he can’t help but to simply observe these small moments.

Din generously soaps up a rag and distracts the kid with copious amounts of bubbles that he blows in his direction. With each fit of giggles, he has ample chance to lift each one of the Child’s chubby limbs to scrub at his skin. As the rag is passed under his arms, the Child wiggles and squeals, his eyes scrunching up in mirth.

As Din finishes scrubbing his body down, he softly says, “The trick with getting him washed is to keep him entertained. Distract him. Make it a game and he’ll be too busy playing to try and get away.” 

He washes his face gently and rubs his ears as he explains before getting to the light fuzz atop the Child’s head. The kid is getting noticeably bored, now, his head turning this way and that under Din’s hands while he kicks his feet in the water. Din rubs at his head enough to create big bubbles and Corin’s eyes widen when Din brings the bubbly mixture to his own face and rubs it into his beard, sculpting it to a point before bopping the kid on the nose.

He grabs the cup on the floor to scoop water from the bucket, putting a hand on the Child’s forehead to block soapy water from getting into his eyes. Din gets a big yawn from the kid in return and he lifts him out of the bucket before quickly wrapping him securely in a towel. The kid blinks sleepily, making it easy for Din to adjust the towel and hand him to Corin. Corin blinks as the bath-warm Child is placed in his arms, still not quite processing anything with the suds still on Din’s face.

“Could you get him dressed for bed?” Din asks.

Snapping out of it, Corin shakes his head lightly, “Right, yeah. Sure, I can do that.”

In the spare time that they’ve had aboard, he knows Din’s been able to make more clothes for the kid.  _ Just...need to find them _ , he thinks as he walks the short distance to their shared room.

He’s just barely had a chance to start looking around when he hears Din call out, “Third storage cabinet, second shelf down, Corin.”

_ Right, yep. That sounds _ …

He opens the door, expecting to find the usual haphazard clusters of random items that are in all of the other cabinets, but instead finds the small pile of new clothes folded neatly right where Din said they’d be, sitting next to what remains of his fabric stock.

O _ h, that was easier to find than I thought it would be. _

He grabs the first garment on the pile that looks cozy enough for the Child to sleep in and gently sets the kid on the bed. Careful not to jostle him too much, he dries the Child off with soothing strokes of the towel, making sure to get the fuzz on the top of his head good and dry. The Child’s ears and eyelids droop and he’s asleep by the time Corin has him fully dried and dressed.

Corin ties the sash that Din had made for the new robe, his fingers lingering over the soft fabric. The soft brown of the fabric emphasizes the kid’s big eyes and Corin thinks it’s a perfect color on him. Picking him back up, he turns towards the Child’s small room just in time to catch Din setting Gigi in the wash bucket out of the corner of his eye. He freezes for a second before backing up to watch.

Gigi splashes at the water and Din tries to block it from hitting his face with his hand. She wiggles and rolls in the water, making it easy for Din to wash her off. While he’s scrubbing at her tummy, she spits water at him playfully and he flicks it right back at her.

Not bothering to contain his smile, Corin sets the kid in his bed and grabs his blanket; he doesn’t even so much as twitch as he tucks it around him. He goes to grab some jerky from the kitchenette for the kid to chew on when he eventually wakes up. At the sound of more splashing and Din’s soft voice, Corin’s smile softens and he takes out two pieces instead of one.

His hair is sticking to his forehead as it dries into ringlets, his shirt feels damp and clingy, and his pants chafe uncomfortably, but he figures the slight discomfort is worth it as he watches Din from where he’s standing in the kitchenette. Din’s got Gigi wrapped up in a towel, now, and sets her down on the Child’s bed. The kid doesn’t so much as twitch as Din gives the Pup one last wipe down before she surges under the blankets to curl up around his small form.

There’s a small, fond smile on Din’s face as his re-gloved hands reluctantly move away from the blanket. He hesitates over the button before hitting it and letting the door slide shut. He lets out a long, fond sounding sigh and Corin is hit with an overwhelming flood of emotions, causing him to take in a sharp breath. The swirling emotions are nothing he can make sense of, but they terrify and exhilarate him both. The soft expression that remains on Din’s face when he looks up at Corin only causes the emotions to flicker warmly in his chest.

Swallowing, he walks towards Din, eyes averted, and sets the treats down on either side of the sleeping young ones for when they inevitably wake up hungry. Din says nothing, but he feels a hand on his elbow, a barely grazing touch, and he manages not to startle this time. Din lets his hand rest more firmly on his elbow, and Corin can feel his gaze on him but keeps his own focused on the Pup and Child.

Biting at his lower lip, he doesn’t think too hard as he leans against Din and rests his head on his shoulder. He’s careful to keep the touch light and is ready to pull away should Din make any indication of discomfort.

But Din is relaxed, even leaning into Corin’s weight as he asks after a few silent moments, “Nap?”

“Maker, yes, please.”

Corin feels him chuckle and his heart thuds in his chest as they move to their own bed, thinking of how much he’d like to get Din to laugh like that more often.

**Author's Note:**

> Comments are love <3 Seriously, we love and gush over every single comment we get. They keep us motivated and help inspire bouts of inspired writing spurts. 
> 
> I'm working on an illustration for this TLC, so keep an eye out for an update with it in the next few days!


End file.
